The Dreyfus Case.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2570, 22 August 1899, Page 1

The Dreyfus Case.

United Press Association—By iSlectric Telegraph—Copyright. Received August 21st, 11 p.m. Paris, August 21. Owing to Government leniency towards M. Guerin, a number of Anarchists and Socialists gathered during the afternoon in the Place de la Kepublique. The police were on the alert. Sebaslien Faure harangued the crowd under the statute of the Republic in the square, declaring that Anarchists ought to be masters, and adding that the Nationalists monopolised the streets. The police ordered the crowd to dis-; perse. The Guards cleared the square of j 3000 people, who rushed and scuffled in various directions <owards the Place de la Nation. A tierce fight ensued, revolver shots were exchanged, and the Commissary of Police ;and two policemen were injured. The police, however, succeeded in arresting Faure. A rabble armed with hatchets and knives smashed 1 thetjhurch windows of St. Joseph’s, destroyed the pictures on the altars, the font, statue and great crucifix, while singing the Carmagnole. They piled the chairs from the buildings in the streets and made a bonfire, throwing the broken statues of the Saviour and Virgin in the flames.

The Republican Guard who were summoned, were fiercely attacked by the mob, who with drawn knives stood as a line of defence. The anarchists were ultimately compelled to take refuge in the belfry, from which they hurled missiles. The parapet of the church was set fire to by the miscreants, and invaluable pictures were lost. The excitement spread during the evening eastwards, the police driving riotous crowds who gave conflicting cheers for the Army and Republic, Two kiosks were also burned by the crowd, and twenty-six persons were arrested at the eastern terminus, making 46 in all. Seventy-five persons were injured in the fiasco. ■ The original meeting was due to the presence of a number of members of the Patriotic League, Royalist youths, and anti-semites.